The use of hand tools to hold and manipulate various items is well known and spans thousands of years of incremental development. Specifically in the jewelry industry, it has always been a problem to hold, align, attach and solder jewelry components, specifically ring components, without being able to fully see the actual surfaces that are the object of the craft-person's attention. The inability to directly view the item being worked on creates additional difficulties for the user. For example, many jewelers use heat and pressure on items being worked on, such as when soldering a crown to a ring. When incorrectly applied, heat and pressure can damage the structure of the ring. Therefore, a need exists for a tool that allows a user to directly view an item being held for viewing.
Conventional tools in the art compress the individual items to be viewed between two opaque tool surfaces made of metal. This creates an obscured clamped position in which the user tries to visually align the items viewed. For instance, a conventional tool holds an item to be viewed at a perpendicular angle against a solid surface such as metal. In use, a jeweler desiring to solder a crown to a ring held by such a tool cannot properly see the alignment required because of the solid nature of the surface holding the ring in position. In many instances, the work must be redone after inspection because the alignment was improperly positioned due to the user's inability to view the item directly from above. Because the opaque nature of the surface securely holding the item in position prevents the user from having a direct view of the item, there exists a need for a tool that allows the direct viewing of an item being held perpendicularly against a viewing surface.
Still other conventional tools require the user to use both hands merely to hold the items to be worked on in the required position. This is inefficient and requires either another person to complete the work or another tool to hold the tool holding the item. Alternatively, if one hand can be used to hold the tool securing the item, the tool is often bulky and uncomfortable for the user after extended periods of use.
Therefore, there exists a need in the jewelry field and in other detailed work environments for a simple tool that can be held in one hand by a user and allow the user to hold and view items that require precise alignment of single or multiple components. While several patents address clamping capabilities for various types of equipment, no existing patent or combination of patents address the combined elements that give the current invention its unique and novel abilities and characteristics.